CO-Horts

CO-Horts

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Mysterious Turf Color

Tony Koski, Extension Turf SpecialistWhile walking across campus a few weeks ago, I noticed the unusual turf coloration along sidewalks throughout campus.

Wondering what our faithful blog followers might think the cause of this turf discoloration to be? Is it anything to be (potentially) worried about? I know it's covered under many inches of snow right now - which I barely escaped by leaving for San Antonio around noon on Saturday (it was 81 F when I landed).

I'll post the cause of this mysterious discoloration in a few days. Please post your guesses below!

It's possible that the grass adjacent to the sidewalk got heated enough to break dormancy (or stayed active longer last fall) and then suffered frost damage when the temperatures dropped. The left side damage is wider than the right side and both exactly parallel the walkway. Probably the left side faces south and gets more sun; notice the shadows from the trees.

Ok, I'm back. One more thought is that the grass has overgrown the sidewalk on both sides so that what looks like grass on dirt may actually be grass overgrown on concrete. I have no idea why someone would trim grass to overgrown in that manner. But i see homeowners with trim overgrowth on my walks. (Ok, along my front walk